 I want to welcome you on behalf of the Diversity Committee from our school. I'm currently sharing the committee and we've put together a diversity webinar series for 2020. And today is our seventh webinar of the eight-part series. We have one more in November. And our presenters are sharing content around diverse topics which align with the goals of inclusive excellence and diversity, equity, inclusion, which really are tied into our mission of the school as well as our college and our university. You will be able to find a full list of past presentations as well as the upcoming one on our website. And I will share with you the upcoming webcast link as well as the on-demand page where you can locate prior recordings. We do also have a YouTube playlist dedicated to the Diversity Series, and I will share that link in a moment in chat, and our podcast. So several ways in which you can access these wonderful presentations afterwards. Tawana Hodg, she is the Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Librarian at the University of Florida, George A. Smaither's Libraries. And she's presenting today on integrating cultural humility into librarianship. So I'm going to turn it over to you, Tawana. Thank you, Michelle. Let me go ahead and share my screen. So it is a pleasure to be speaking to you all here today. I appreciate, Michelle, for doing a call for presenters and kind of accepting me to present on this topic. I first started learning about culture humility over five years ago when I was a Diversity Resident Librarian at the University of Utah, and learning with this alongside Lorelai Rutledge and Alfred Maldue, who I credit for, you know, being a part of the foundation for learning about this. And so I just want to acknowledge that it is a National Hispanic Heritage Month. This kind of goes beyond just, you know, acknowledging months or celebration awareness month, but to understand the contributions that those who are Hispanic or Latinx provide to this country and around the world as well, and that, you know, supporting people and celebrating them goes beyond just beyond a month, a day, or a year. I also want to acknowledge that it's National Disability Employment Awareness Month, and this is actually the same year that ADA, the American Disability Act, actually turns 30. And so there's a lot to acknowledge and to celebrate in this regards and wanting to make sure that people with disabilities, whether it's physical or psychological, that they are able to bring their full selves to work. So such an objective is that you learn about the concept of cultural humility, the difference between cultural competency and cultural humility. Why should we integrate this into a librarianship as well as several recommendations and how to do so? Okay, so these are just some conversation guidelines to help, you know, flow with the session here today. So respect, listening, using I statements. I think I feel not co-opting the experiences of someone else, feeling honored and present, acknowledging that there's a lot of things that's ongoing, you know, thinking about COVID-19, the fact, you know, civil unrest and other things of that nature. And so very happy that you are here with us here today and so continuing to be engaged with us. The right to disagree, understanding that, you know, there's conflict of opinions. And there are degrees to disagreements that it's going to touch on that a little bit more. The right to risk or to pass because I will be engaging with you all. And so I'm not going to be the stage-on-stage type thing. I'm going to be asking you all questions and really wanting to engage with you all, especially in the chat box and feel free to utilize the Q&A feature to ask me hard questions, challenging questions, questions that makes me pause and think. I am assuming that you have good intentions because you are here today, staying open to the process, you know, leading into your discomfort. Making space for others and taking space for, taking up space where space traditionally have not been made for folks. And this is a call-a-break space. So if you identify as iPOC, I want you to feel empowered to share your perspectives, to add comments, to ask questions. And this is from Deborah Daniels, University of Utah's Women Resource Center. And then next up are break space agreements. I initially learned about this through the ACRL virtual event. The keynote was Mackenzie Mack. And I fell in love with these and I've been using them ever since, which has been a few months since then. And so created by Mackenzie Mack, but inspired by Mickey Scott B. Jones. So the break space agreements are we agree to struggle against racism, sexism, transphobia, classism, sexism, and ableism. And the ways we internalize myths and misinformation about our own identities and identities of other people. We know that no space can be completely safe. And we agree to work together towards harm reduction, centering those most affected by injustice in a room, even if it means centering ourselves. We agree to set with a discomfort that comes with having conversations about race, gender, identity, the nonprofit and national complex, et cetera. We agree to try our best not to shame ourselves for the vulnerability that these kinds of conversations require. We agree to value the viewpoints of other people that do not challenge a conflict with our right to exist or challenge a conflict with another's right to exist. We agree that it's okay to have feelings. It's okay to feel uncomfortable when we are discussing conflict topics about boundaries, accountability, personal relationships, organizational relationships, justice and care. And so if you agree, I would like for you, and if you have access to the chat box to type in, I agree that you agree with these break space agreements and as we have this conversation and learn more about culture, humility and other topics here today that you abide by these agreements. So I'm going to give people a few seconds to type in, I agree, if you agree with the break space agreements. And Tawana, I'm just going to hop in because I don't know if you can see the chat, but we are getting lots of I agrees, majority, actually all I agrees thus far. Okay, that is great because I don't have access to the chat. So thank you everyone for agreeing to the break space agreements. And so Michelle had talked about the progress of stacking and so I'm just going to briefly reiterate it again in terms of if you identify as part of our marginalized group or in a representative group, especially if you're a BIPOC to use an asterisk at the start of your question or comment and then it gets routed to the top. So feel free to do that. We acknowledge that you have to self-identify, but progressive stacking is a way to give underrepresented voices the chance to speak first. Okay, so I just want to briefly do a breathing exercise and this is something that I've kind of adopted from one of the people I admire. Manda Lefroy, she's the founder of Mindfulness and LIS and just taking the moment to take a few deep breaths. You know, center on your body. Are you being present? You know, I'm being present. What is your body telling you? What are you feeling? It's just kind of sitting with that for like a few seconds and it's just a way for us to calm down. You know, after we've probably been going since seven, eight, nine o'clock in the morning and that we have the opportunity to just sit and breathe for a moment. Thank you. All right. So ALA Code of Ethics. So most people have probably seen the ALA Code of Ethics. Why are probably, you're probably thinking about why do I bring this up? And this has been a core part of any cultural humility presentation that I do because, you know, this is our guide to ethical decision-making. Kind of a framework for dealing with situation involving ethical conflicts. And so one of the, one of this is just we provide the highest level of service to all library users, you know. And so we essentially, seeing that anyone that comes through our doors, okay, that we serve them and we serve them through appropriate and usefully organized resources, equitable service policies, equitable access and accurate unbiased and courteous responses to all requests. And this is something that we say that we strive to do day in and day out. But one of the things, and I would want you all to chime in in the chat box, when can you think about times where we happened, you know, provided the highest level of service to all library users, you know, where we seem to be erring on the side of inequitable service policies or inequitable access that, you know, how we respond to requests can be biased at times. What are some examples that you can think of, and this is not just truest libraries, but if you are outside of libraries, think about the things that you do and the policies and procedures that we may uphold that are not, you know, serving everyone. So there have been a couple comments. So e-book access, programming, Library of Congress subject headings that are biased or old terminology. Yeah, and those are just some examples of many that we can think of. And that's not to come from a deficient way of thinking, you know, libraries, you know, the goal of libraries providing access to information for all, you know, this is not a neutral or something that is objective, you know, this is something that, you know, we are, you know, libraries are very passionate about, library work is a very passionate about and has given so much to this, but also acknowledging that libraries are a reflection of the societies that we live in. And so we have taken on some of the negative biases, you know, we've taken on some of, you know, racist, sexist, you know, phobic systems and structures and, you know, we strive to move beyond that, you know, which is a great thing. Okay, prioritizing security of things over inclusivity, such as creating barriers to people by, for example, requiring IDs to use the archives or special collections, making assumptions about tech access, saying quote, text us when you arrive, quote for curbside pickup, for example. Really with COVID, there's a lot of discussion here about shifting in-person programs to online libraries currently opening, but only allowing access to students that our university serves and not the public. Though we have traditionally been a public library, continue to support expensive subscription access publishing models that have been known behind a gate, or keep knowledge behind the gate, I should say, needing an address to sign up for a library card, police presence, partners for security, library fines, another great example, and then strict limits on which community members can enter or use the library even before COVID. So again, that aspect, and there's several others, forcing users to sign up for a card when they can choose not to, intimidating for their address when they might be or could be homeless, and also a library website, maybe mostly in English. So there's little to no visibility of, say, world language resources. And those are a lot of really great examples of some of the ways that gatekeeping occurs. And the thing is that for some of these, it's intentional, and some of them are unintentional. They are just byproducts of not really diving deeper into the changing demographics of our communities, you know? And in regards to what happened earlier this summer that is still affecting us before, during, and still now, with the murder of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and Arbria Mann, and the slew of people who I frame it as a lot of, most of America and other people globally acknowledging that racism is still a thing, you know? And that a lot of statements came out of that. And an understanding that for people of color in this country, their, how they operate, their lifestyles are vastly different than whites or Caucasian folks worldwide, but particularly in America. And it's not to say that, you know, we are, you know, essentially saying, you know, white people are the root of all of this. That's not what we're saying. We're saying that as a black woman, I live and navigate this world, particularly in this country, a little differently. And so there was just a number of different statements that came out and acknowledging, you know, racism and anti-black racism that exists, you know? For those of you who may know, may not know, the librarianship profession is 86% white, even with the inclusion of the AERA Kaleidoscope Program, which was formerly known, I believe it was initiative to recruit a diverse workforce, as well as a spectrums program. And if you're a spectrum scholar, feel free to shout out in the chat box. But, you know, people, they have recruited, particularly people of color into the profession, almost at the same time that people of color are leaving, you know? And so really thinking about, what is our retention policies and things of that nature. And San Jose State University, which is libraries, which is an academic and research library, and even thinking about how the focus of the core commitment of values influence the things that we do, you know? That for ACRL, acknowledge and address historical racial inequities, you know, challenge oppressive systems. And a lot of that is for us to start thinking about, what do we know about the communities that we serve? What do we know about the history? And what ways have there, what ways have we have had gaps and how are we correcting those gaps? And that all of these different statements, you know, means that we have not been doing this on a, you know, mainstream level previously. And there's been library, there's been articles that have been written about how even in libraries, though we fight for democracy, you know, there's a way that we end up promoting whiteness. And wherein everything that is not white is other, you know, and getting, and getting at that and getting at what does it mean if somebody who's undocumented looks at our catalog, our library catalog and see the use of illegal aliens, you know, and this is referring to the documentary change the subject, which I would suggest that people watch if you're unfamiliar with it. And I'm thinking about vocational awe, you know, and provides the article, like amazing article that was written over two years ago. And if you're not familiar with it, I strongly suggest that you read it. But for this article, basically asking us to think about, you know, we think of librarianship as being inherently good, secret notions and therefore beyond critique. And for us to be able to turn, for us to be able to take a look at ourselves, you know, to reflect and to critique, which are a part of cultural humility. Yes, I will post the name of the documentary into the chat box. And so culture is, culture is our way of living. It is complex, it is dynamic, continually involving, constantly in flux by our experiences by the people that come into this country, the people that live here, the people who were born and raised here, people who immigrate here. It's always in flux and the food and the language and the things that we cherish, you know, but there's also isms and phobias. So racism, sexism, classism, sizeism, ableism, ethnocentrism, antisemitism, ageism and phobias such as homophobia, ismphobia, xenophobia and transphobia. There's any that I might be missing, feel free to add them to the chat box. But a question to you all, have you all experienced these in terms of people who've been, you know, sexists or racists or plasses or elitists? You know, in terms of academic institutions, there's that difference between like if you're affiliated with the institution or if it's not, you know, sizeism, ableism, even thinking about ableism and those with invisible disability versus a physical disability. You know, what has been your experiences like? What have you had to fight for? And Tawana, I'll just jump in real quick about the documentary. Has that changed the subject? Is that the one you're referring to? Okay, so just so everybody knows, I'll put it in the chat. Change the subject is being aired on PBS for free through December. So I'm going to put the link into the chat for all of you. And there were just a few additional comments I want to add here. Someone mentioned earlier about creating programming centered only on white clientele when the community is changing and adding a collection in different languages not enough so everyone should be represented equally as well as continuing to support library publishers and vendors who do not comply with current accessibility standards. So even considering accessibility. And you're asking about isms, rankism, particularly within academic institutions, sizeism. So feeling like there's something that is overlooked a lot, sizeism. Those are the other two that came up. Thank you. Thank you for contributing. You all and I will make sure to update the slide to include the things that you will have added from the chat box. And so I'm going to go through these next few slides a little quickly because I think at this point everyone knows what implicit bias is and kind of understanding that they're pervasive. They're separate and distinct from explicit biases and beliefs in most cases and they take consistent long-term effort to minimize your bias response. And from this article from Andrews Kim and Watanabe, Cultural Humility as a Transformative Framework for Library Institutes and Youth, just kind of some examples. You know, people might feel uncomfortable. They have varying levels of confidence with cultures outside of their own. Sometimes, you know, people have a tendency to declare a patron's or a student name is too difficult to pronounce or spell. You know, and say they give them maybe an English sounding name or they give them a nickname. I can't tell you how many times I've had my name is spelled. Even by Zoom, you know, it differs from my correct name, spelling name. You know, feeling to support boys with patrons, students or young adults, you know, you may not feel comfortable telling them to, you know, maybe quiet down, you know, have a tendency to maybe call the cops. Making assumptions about the home life or the culture of the patron. We have a tendency to lead to those assumptions. We have these automatic associations that occur from the media, from previous experiences that allow us to kind of make those associations, those assumptions and being able to relate to diverse life experiences. So there's this precious association test that exists and it's just a way to kind of try to figure out what our implicit biases may be. There's been a lot of debate and conversation about the validity of it and things of that nature. I'm not here to tell you you must take it or anything like that. This is just one of several ways of trying to get at what our implicit biases might be. And our biases impact. They may not always kind of lead to an action necessarily. It might just be things that we think or perceive of others. But when we engage with other people, these associations have a tendency to control us whether we are conscious of them or not. There are a privilege checklist that exists. So these are just a few and to just quickly read one from each. The thin privilege checklist. I can go home from meetings, classes and conversations to not feel excluded, fearful, attack, isolated, outnumbered, unheard or afraid at a distance because of the size of my body. I can worry about, this is from the white privilege checklist. I can worry about racism without being seen as a self-interested or self-seeking. And from the able privilege checklist, parts of your body or extensions of your body are not referred to as that thing. And so now what I want to do is for you all to briefly do this activity. And so I am going to put the link into the chat box for you all. And so what it is that I want you all to do is to using this wheel, identifying, you know, the privilege that you have, whether it's language, gender, age, you know, you could write down for age if you're young, middle age, if you're older. And on the line, essentially, you're going to write down, well, not write down, but you could if you wanted to, but you can just mentally just state, where do you think, if it's closer to the middle, your identity have more privilege. If it's closer to the edge, it has less privilege. And then thinking about, and then part of the activity that I want a few people to share in the chat box is to identify three salient identities. That means the most to you, that you, that is important to you, and kind of list why. And so let me bring up the chat box and give you guys this link. So I will give you all a minute or two to do it, to work on this, but essentially, you're going to kind of look at this and for this activity to identify three identities that are important to you, because what is important to you is not always important to, is not important, what's important to you is not always what other people describe to you, or want to talk to you about, essentially, or Dean, that should be important to you. And so I'm just going to give you a minute to do this. And as you think about this, I'm just going to go through the next few slides, but I really do want a few brave participants, volunteers, to just put in the chat box, what your three important identities are and why. So some bias-reducing strategies, and you all will have access to this PowerPoint presentation. And like I said, feel free to add questions into the chat box. So stereotype replacement is, you know, recognizing a stereotype has been activated, think about why, and then, you know, you actively substitute a non-stereotypical thought. Counter-stereotypic imaging is imagining an individual situation that contracts your stereotype. People might assume that women are bad drivers, and envisioning that, you know, a woman is a NASCAR driver, things of that nature. Another one is positive contacts. So this is, I think, something that libraries do particularly well is positive contacts, increasing opportunities for positive contacts with members of a stereotype group. So I see this happening in academic and public libraries and other libraries as well. So I'm going to stop right there and see if there was any folks who added anything to the chat box. No responses yet, but again, this is completely voluntary, and if you'd like to share, and what was it, three identities as well as why you chose them? Yes, from the wheel. And so if you, you know, say that age, education, or, you know, race and race if you're black, kind of really thinking about what are the things that's most important to you? Because I think a lot of times we don't have the opportunity to stop and reflect and think about what are all my identities, you know, and being able to call them out. And so community support is being able to find organizations, associations, and groups that support or aids in your different identities. So that you can find, like say a therapist, you can find grocery stores that sell food that you're familiar with, that you grew up eating, that you're able to find religious support in that, in your community. And so, you know, things that can culturally validate you. Thank you for that question, Laura. And so Francis put in the chat about education, religion, and age, that they shape how they think about the world and that they change. And that's the thing is that our identities and what are we selling identities might change over time, you know? And so for us to be able to acknowledge that and some of them are social constructs that power and meaning have been infused, you know, into them. And so thank you all for sharing. And so, that's the thing that you all was probably itching to get at. So cultural humility. Cultural humility incorporates a lifelong commitment. So this is not something you, you know, can decide. I'm just going to do it for like two seconds and then that's it. And this is self-evaluation and self-critique. And it's not critiquing to say that it's in a deficient way of thinking or anything like that, you know? So acknowledge that we can't possibly know everything that there is to know about a particular group and their culture. And a question I will pose to you all. What do you, how would you describe American culture? And so feel free to put in the chat box. You know, how would you describe American culture? Particularly to someone who did not, was, did not grow up in America, was not born and raised here. And so as people are happily in the chat box I'm just going to continue with this definition. And it's redressing the power imbalances. And in this particular, this is coming from the medical field in regards to the patient physician dynamic in developing mutually beneficial and non-paternalistic partnerships. It is being other-oriented or person or patron-centered. It is honoring who that person is and what they bring. Okay. Is engaging in consent and consistent self-affection. And that self-affection and that reflection piece can be in isolation or it can be with a group of people who you trust, who have the ability to call you in and call you out depending on what is needed. Is it expressed in respect and a lack of superiority even when cultural differences are present? And so it's not kind of falling into that trap of ethnocentrism of believing that one culture is superior to another or one perspective or lifestyle is superior to another. But I'm going to stop right there and see if there was any folks who responded to the question. How would you describe American culture, especially to someone who was not born or raised here? I think everyone's really excited and engaged with the identity exercise. So I don't know that we've moved to that question but it's been great, the engagement and the sharing here. So thank you everyone. Yes, thank you. Let me see if I can see the chat box. Okay, yes, now I can see the chat box. Yes, thank you so much for sharing and just scrolling up and just looking at some of this. Because when we think about it, like the identities that we hold, they have a culture to them, a set of norms and mannerisms and language and how we talk to certain people, how we don't talk to certain people and who we engage to, whether we pray in the morning or not, we take Sundays off or not, or how we dress, things of that nature. And so in understanding that, for me, I was born or raised in St. Thomas, which is an island. I like to say it in the middle of the Caribbean seas, 32 square miles. I'm American by birth, birthright citizenship, but I did not grow up in the mainland. And so that's very different from the Black people that I've met who was born and raised here. And though we are Black, I consider myself Afro-Caribbean, my experiences are vastly different. And even within BIPOC, and even within folks who are melanated, their experiences are not all the same. And there's sometimes this expectation that all BIPOC people know all BIPOC people and have the same experiences. Not exactly, no. And so if people are putting in, in terms of like, how would they describe American culture? And some people are saying American exception, very xenophobic and hateful at times, consumerism heavy, self-worth through consumeristic ideals and different stuff like that. And people are saying similar things, people are saying different things. And so really understanding that depending on who you are and where you were born, which I wouldn't say timeline, which generation you were born into, the movements, you know, that kind of influences how people perceive and experience the world. And so, you know, thinking about that. And so for me, cultural competency, which has been something that has been integrated in so many disciplines, and there was even a class I had in graduate school that talked about cultural competency, the challenge with cultural competency, I think is that there's people who believe that we can be competent in a culture. In ours and other people's, excuse me, that there is a set of characteristics or criteria that you can read this book chapter and not really understand, you know, Native Americans and, you know, their relationship with the healthcare system and different stuff like that. And to acknowledge that, one, we, there's no, and for somebody to say that competency, that, you know, we do this one thing, we get this type of approval, we are competent, we don't need any ongoing training or education on this. And it also to me puts the onus on that person from that culture to educate us, to educate me on your culture. And the flip side of a cultural humility, or maybe cultural humility is kind of a, on the spectrum, which is kind of a moving point on the next step, is that cultural humility is, you know, for us taken on the onus of educating ourselves about different communities that we're working and engaging with. And so for cultural humility, it can empower a stronger sense of pride in one culture that you don't have to make excuses or provide disclaimers or anything like that, acknowledging and feeling a sense of, like they say, pride and encouraging, you know, people to respect one another's culture. And not, somebody mentioned that, a melting pot. A melting pot is essentially that you're, you're losing aspects of yourself and you're assimilating into someone else's culture. And that's not what we mean. And I think, you know, libraries have an opportunity to dismantle dominance their typical narratives because we're in the business of collecting information from everyone's perspective, you know, and making sure that we are working with those communities that we are collecting from and we acknowledging that our previous practices have been questionable at best, extremely traumatizing and problematic at worst, but acknowledging that and working on restorative justice and reconciliation in different aspects. And that self-affection is realistic and ongoing, self-appraisal, it's mindfulness, it's taking the time. We're so busy. And I think sometimes, you know, there's that pridefulness in being busy. We're so busy that we, at tendency, and we have so much that puts on us that you're doing for people's job at once, that we're unable to take the time to be mindful, you know, that would allow us to check our power imbalances and challenge assumption, you know, understanding that this is sustained commitment. And it's like when you're exercising, you know, you haven't done it for a while and you're trying to get your body to do this. And so you're not trying to do everything at once, but you're starting off in bits and pieces that are sustainable. This is active engagement. It's not passive. You know, somebody is not watching this presentation or the other things or diving into the other resources is not going to mean that, uh-huh, you know, you're just consuming it and you're not doing anything with it. And this is lifelong. There's no checklist. There's no stopping point. You're not going to get a handout that's like, this is step one, and then this is step 50. If you do this, then this happens. That's the beauty of cultural humility to me. Be humble. And so this is a model. Be humble about the assumptions you make about knowing the world from your peasants or patrons or colleagues' shoes. This is not always a patron-centered of focus. Understand how your own background can impact the care or the service that you provide for your patrons. Motivate to learn more about other people's background and culture. For me, it feels like it shouldn't, you shouldn't have to, we shouldn't have to wait until bodies drop, until lives are lost, until people feel that they are dehumanized in order for us to do the necessary work to learn about others. And as you learn and understanding, you know, about different perspectives, begin incorporating this into how you understand people and engage with them, that this is lifelong learning and emphasize respect and really just genuinely listening to people. So I'm going to stop right there and see if there's any questions or comments before I move on. Tawana, I have a comment I want to mention here. So I teach a new course at San Jose, Cultural Competence for Information Professionals. And the way I've really described cultural competence is that it's a journey and it's ongoing. It's not, you go through these steps and you're proficient. So it's a, I think it ties in with its lifelong learning, but it's also an engagement process. It may change. You might, you know, take 10 steps back and then maybe 10 steps forward, but it's not really linear in the sense that it is an ongoing journey. And I really like how you describe how cultural humility is different in the spectrum and how it fits in. If it's in with cultural competency and really the self-awareness, the biases, understanding your own values and value orientations. So I appreciate this piece and I'm going to ensure my students listen to this if they're not here today because it directly relates to the course I'm teaching. And I even think I will modify and add just a specific module on cultural humility. So thank you. You're welcome. And there are pros and cons. There's pros and cons with anything. And I think with cultural competency, there is a lot of things to be taken from it and to be embedded and to be utilized. And, you know, there's an article that's out there that talks about like the combination of competency and humility. I can't remember the exact term because it legitimately combined it. But I'll find that article and send it to you, Michelle. But yeah, and so it's essentially thinking about, you know, that humility aspect of being, for me, for those who ever worked, you know, virtual chat and were referenced as before, you, somebody comes up or even, you know, you get that ding and you don't know what they're going to ask, you know, you don't know if you're going to be able to answer it, you know, and taking some level of comfort in that, you know, and knowing that you're going to be conducting that reference interview. You're going to be asking those questions and even being conscious about the questions we ask and how some of those questions we ask can reinforce assumptions, you know, and may end up making the person uncomfortable to even reveal some more, you know. And Tawana, there is a question that's come into the chat if you might want to address it now. I see it. In the Q&A, I'm sorry, it's not in the chat. What are the best ways to deal with personal biases to you? I find that it is important to library workers to understand other cultures and that because of seniority, learning about other people's culture does not seem to be important to their work anymore. How must a large library system make sure that this is a priority and this is important? To answer your first question, I think once you understand what your biases are, I think really looking at, like the bias-reducing strategies, you know, is one way to learn how to reduce your bias response. I think it's being able to engage in that self-reflection. It's having people you trust, like in different settings, who are willing to call you out. And literally when I say call you, I'm calling you out, you know, and, you know, willing to take that time to teach you, you know, what might have been a call you or call you in. But to kind of help you think about, maybe there's another way that this could have been said or even thinking about our moments of silence. And in terms of prioritization from those who are in senior or administrative leadership positions, I think for me, I always connect it back to what is the mission, vision, and strategic plan. You know, if it has anything in there about providing a welcoming inclusive community, how can we do that if we don't generally know what our community and understand how our biases can potentially, and most of the time to impact how we design programming, the services that we provide people, you know, how are we making sure that we are getting critical feedback? How are we keeping ourselves accountable, you know, to these things that we said that we are doing? At my university, after in their acknowledging racism, their 15-point plan, you know, they talked a lot about, you know, focusing on Black experience for 2021 and different stuff like that. And there's been a number of statements that came out from different organizations. And for me, it's following up with them. If they don't make it a priority, and if it's not important to them, then what is? If it's not serving their community in a way that everyone feels welcome and invited and feel like they belong, then what else is more important? And I frame it that way because we are in the business of supporting people, including our colleagues, including our patrons. So we have to be able to understand what their lived experiences are and making sure that they do not feel like they are perpetual strangers or that they are othered in this country that they have every right to be considered a human being and have basic human dignity and respect. So, honey, I hope that hopefully that I've answered your question. Erin, you're interested in other ways, in ways other libraries have engaged to their cultural communities to find out the resources, programming, support that they want from their library. So I think that this could be a question to folks in the who are participating and who are here, so feel free to chime in and answer that question. I think for me, in my job, I've been here for eight months. I haven't had the opportunity to systematically dive into the community, but I've embraced the opportunities of meeting with other people and letting them connect me to others, that relationship building, that trust. But acknowledging that libraries from a lot of underserved and underrepresented communities that libraries may not be seen as a place that they trust because it's an institution and at times libraries have not been for the people. And so it's acknowledging that historical and intergenerational trauma, acknowledging that there is trust that has been eroded to the point that it doesn't exist anymore and it's really figuring out the history, you know, what has happened, what is still happening. And it's not just the job of like a community engagement person or department, it's everyone's job because when somebody comes into the library, they for the general public or for any student faculty or staff, they're not going to say, understand the person from the front desk, you know, from an AED essentially. And so it's getting everyone to understand that part of their job is working to learn about their communities. Oh gosh, I have eight minutes left. So Erin, hopefully I've answered your question and I think that there are other people who will, who might respond to this question but I think it's a great question. Okay. Engaging in reflective practice, I won't hammer this any further but guiding questions for critical reflection. So in what ways do I consider my PhDs unique circumstances? Do I lump them together and base my interaction and previous experiences with members from their cultural groups? You know, what, in what ways are unit library, so like your unit or department or library, state, national, international, organization, association, policies, enact racism, classism, sexism and other power relations. So taking it into these policies and procedures that we, you know, uphold, you know, and thinking about, are they reinforcing the particular perspectives and people that we, that we serve, you know, what are my own cultural experiences? You know, how do they ship my practice? And so openness, reflective practice, journaling. I used to not be a really great journaler but even if it's just jotting down a few thoughts and it's carving time out of your day, whether it's in the beginning, middle or end, to engage in this, this reflective practice which journaling can help you with. And so kind of getting closer to the end of my presentation because I really do want other people to ask me a lot more questions and to challenge me. I'm always excited about that. So things for the trainings and other stuff that we do. Using non-dominant first-person perspective. So really thinking about if you're a professor, who's in your syllabus? And it goes beyond just like adding, you know, citing black women or, you know, citing people of color and things of that nature is really looking at like, do you have a statement that encourages definition, not definitions, encouraging discussion on controversial, uncomfortable topics, you know, because I'll get to that a little bit later. Using lived experience. You know, there's people who privilege credentials over lived experience and to me, they one should not be privileged over the other. When I used to teach instruction sessions, you know, I used to use the example that, you know, you could have somebody who has a PhD in molecular engineering. And if they're writing about or have a blog about taking care of foresee here and they are a white woman, then, and they don't have foresee here, then not someone you're not going to want to utilize either for styling or if you're doing research into, you know, black women who have foresee here. Encourage groups to explain their reasoning. Use examples that reverse common stereotypes and discuss race, social class and privilege. And there's been information about how the demographics of higher ed changing the demographics of this nation is changing and making sure that we are being proactive and not reactive. And so, you know, with COVID-19 acknowledging that community involvement might be incredibly difficult, especially since a lot of you all mentioned about in order to use library, you have to be, especially an academic library, you have to be affiliated in some way, ship or form. But I think, you know, providing the opportunity for the community to be involved in different steps of the way and for them to be co-creators in some of the things that we do. You know, providing opportunities for positive encounters, which is what this is part of and which this is doing. And question how your biases may affect the services you provide at your library. And remembering that learning happens through discomfort, areas of growth for ourselves, some key takeaways. And as engaging in these conversations, I have a ton of resources that is what I'm really good at. My references and Kimberly Crenshaw, Dr. Kimberly Crenshaw, who is known as the founder of Intersectionality. If we can't see your problem, we can't fix the problem. And so, any other questions? And then this is my contact information. Thank you. Thank you so much, Tawana. This was, I took like two pages of notes. So this is really informative for me and in my courses and what I'm doing and to support students. And so if there are any questions, we have about three minutes, but if there is a question, if you can go ahead and put it in the Q&A and we'll let Tawana address those. And yes, someone asked about the resources citations. You will get a copy. I won't say we'll get a copy on our website. We will post the recording as well as a PDF of the presentation and any other resources that Tawana would like to share. Yes, and I can stay on for maybe another five to 10 minutes if there's any pressing questions. And like I said, I want you all to question and challenge critical thinking, things that you heard me talk about or state. And you all are most welcome. I enjoy sharing the gospel. Let me stop sharing our question melody and there's so much more to learn. Every time I do this, I learn a little bit more myself and through engaging with you all. And so I'm really excited and I see some familiar people who are in attendance and you know, new folks. So thank you. Thank you for coming. But and you don't have to struggle in this alone. You know, like this is not like an isolated activity. I don't want you to think that you have to like, you know, enclose yourself into a dark space by yourself and work on this. You know, it's forming a community, you know, and it's taking time to like weave this into your practice. You know, and when I learned about this, you know, five years ago, it was a struggle for me too when I'm still learning different ways to, you know, employ this, but also even, you know, mentally check in myself, you know, and be like, why do I think this way? Like, why are you responding in this in this in this manner? You know, and forcing me to kind of like, even think about things before I say them, you know, and sometimes we think that these things end in just kind of like whether we do decide to do some things also when we don't decide to do something when we decide not to say hi to someone or let them in the face or to even just acknowledge their existence, you know, and there's times where sometimes that's just what people want, you know, is just to know that you see them as a human being and you treat them as such and they don't have to fight for basic human to Tawana to you just made me think about reflection and taking the space and the time to reflect on, you know, if a situation does occur or actually every interaction we have, but taking that time to really reflect on your own reactions or your own behaviors and, you know, maybe what went right, what went wrong, what you could do better, how we can each improve while we're on this on this journey as I call it. So I think the reflection practice is a great tool, we'll say, to really help you to inform and also to, you know, retool yourself if you need to, if something does occur. Yeah. Yes, we this is life on we are works in progress to not put additional pressure on ourselves to be like we should I need to be here, you know, it's I've said this before it's not about just seeing the right thing. It's about doing the right thing, you know, that, that, that action piece that I think a lot of people are, are clamoring for, you know, in this moment. And I appreciate everyone who came. This has been great. I have enjoyed this so much and please my contact information is there. Reach out to me. If you have any additional questions and if you want to provide feedback that I talked to quickly that I see on Tim, I'm just joking. You did great. Fabulous. I, I so appreciate you and your, your time, your expertise and the value you're bringing to, you know, those that are here today, but also those that listen to this later. It's invaluable and can't put a price on it. So I really appreciate you. Um, yes, I didn't have to say, but I don't see any other questions. Um, so thank you again. I see tons of thank yous. Um, and yes, very important to support each other and for our communities. Um, any final, final thoughts before I, I close this out? Well, we're all in this together. Um, and our liberation is tied to the liberation of others. Um, and so I so appreciate, um, everyone who's attended and who are continuing to do this work and involving others in this work as well. Thank you. Fabulous. I think you wrapped it up beautifully. So I'm just going to close with that. And again, thank each of you for attending or listening to this and to our wonderful speaker, Tawana, for being here today. Take care and have a great day, everyone. You too. Bye. Bye-bye.